The Day The Universe Stands Still
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: Jack/Hailey SUMMARY: They're off-world the day the Earth dies. Apoca-fic! character death, read warnings
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: The Day The Universe Stands Still

AUTHOR: VIDZ

PAIRING: Jack/Hailey

TIMELINE: Season 5

**WARNINGS**: death, many character deaths **BUT NOT OUR COUPLE**, apocalypse,... **Reader's discretion is advised.**

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: has anyone else realized that in all these apocalyptic fics we writers actually kill ourselves and our families, since we let only our heroes survive and the rest of humanity die? Kinda disturbing when you think about it...

SUMMARY: They're off-world the day the Earth dies and tragedy continues to stalk their dwindling numbers. Apoca-fic! character death, read warnings

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They're off-world the day Earth dies.

They lose their first member at the start, Daniel stayed behind at the SGC because he had some translations he wanted to finish. As a last minute replacement they took Hailey with them and this decision of Daniel's doomed him, just as it saved the green officer's life. SG-1 and SG-18 were sent to P8R-445 for 2 weeks on a diplomatic mission, a mission that saved their lives and insured Earth would live on. At least for a while.

Now, 14 days later, the last chevron doesn't want to engage when they dial up Earth's address. After 5 tries it's still the same. No difference with Alpha Site.

They have no choice but to look up the Tok'ra, no matter how much O'Neill distrusts them.

After 4 days of searching they finally find those tunnel rats and after some serious persuading (Jacob is away on a mission so they don't really have a powerful friend on their side) during which Jack almost ruins the already-fragile relations with a badly timed sarcastic comment, they get their hands on a cargo ship and a pilot.

It takes another day to get to Earth.

Or what's left of it.

All the clues point to space-born bombardment.

The snakeheads no longer wanted to subdue and enslave them, Earth had become too great a threat to their plans. Instead they, whoever the snakehead was, decided to destroy it.

The strength and size of their hate is evidenced by the fact that they not only killed most of the population, human and animal, with the initial assault, but then proceeded to nuke it so that nothing would grow and live on it for the next thousand years.

Their planet, the beloved home they fought for and died to protect, is nothing but a nuclear wasteland, fires still burning all-over the globe and a cloud of radiation filling the atmosphere.

The snakeheads use the image of Earth in it's present state as a warning to anyone who would dare to oppose.

This is when they lose their second team-mate.

Captain Charles can't bear the sight of his dead home planet. His family was there, his wife and their four children, his and hers families and relatives, coworkers, friends and neighbors, they're all dead now. Too wrapped in their own misery nobody notices anything before it's too late. His CO, Lt Col Alex Fredericks, can only cry out "No!", but he's too late, a gunshot rings out and a lifeless body slumps to the floor.

The next place they visit is the Alpha Site and it's also the place they bury Charles. There they find only bodies and a few recordings that tell them of how the System Lords decided to wipe out their greatest threat for good. Among the useful items they scavenge are ammo, food, clothes, an experimental forcefield the SGC was working on and laser perimeter security system.

Tragedy hasn't stopped with Earth's demise, it dogs them on.

Their bond receives a new dimension and depth a week after the end of their world. Everyone is at the fire and he goes inside the cave they now temporarily live in to put on some more clothes. She's supposed to be sleeping, she said she would when she left them earlier, but he clearly hears her crying softly in her corner of the "women's area", called that generously since she and Carter are the only women on the team and only two Earth women left in the Galaxy. He follows the sound to see her sobbing into her pillow, her small frame shaking violently. For 10 seconds he stands there, trying to decide what to do, should he leave her alone and give her privacy?

In the end, it's the image of Charles' lifeless body that persuades him to stay, he's not willing to take the chance of that happening again if one of them is left to deal with their pain on their own.

She needs comfort and support right now, after everything she's lost she needs and deserves someone to be there for her, to remind her she's not alone.

So he lowers himself to the ground, onto her sleeping bag. Startled, she turns to him, wide-eyed and vulnerable, before hastily wiping away the tears.

Ignoring her stuttering apologies he reaches around and gently grabs her behind her back, before guiding her into his chest. She stiffens and tries to back away, but Jack doesn't relent as he rubs a hand awkwardly-yet-soothingly up and down her BDU-clad back. Soon she relaxes and before long she's crying softly again, but this time she's not alone.

She tells him of her parents and how much she loved them and how much it _hurts_ and it's tearing her apart and she just wants to be with them, but she doesn't want to disappoint them, but it's so hard to keep on going.

Before she knows it she falls asleep and Jack tucks her into her bag before returning to the fire.

Their dynamic changes slightly, she trusts him now and hangs around in his presence more, something that's not long before Teal'c and Carter notice.

If Carter is jealous over another woman getting close to the man she's always considered her own territory, she doesn't let on, she and Teal'c say nothing on the change.

They decide against staying with the Tok'ra because it's always been pretty obvious the stuck-up rebels don't think much of the humans and the alliance was always tenuous at best. Carter is caught in an indecision, but the attitude and the vibe they get from their former allies, not to mention Jacob always being on some kind of missions, in the end make the decision for her.

So they set off into the wilderness of the hostile galaxy on their own.

They deliberate over going to Cimmeria and asking Thor for help, but eventually discard that idea. The Asgard already have enough problems of their own with the Replicators, it's ungrateful to demand of them to start an all-out war against the snakeheads too. Hitler had the best military and the best technology and the best weapons and the best tacticians and the best field commanders in the world and look where his insistence on fighting on two fronts got him...

Instead they decide on going at it by themselves, stay alive, stay safe and not alert the snakeheads to their survival until the time is right.

But pain still isn't done with them.

In the first year they lose Whitehall to infection on some tropical planet. It takes only 3 days for him to go, after he's hurt his hand on some strange "tree" native to that area. There's nothing they can do. Doctor Fraiser could've probably saved him, but she's dead just like everyone else they cared about. As they bury him on that nameless planet they can't help but feel rage at the Fates. They've suffered so much heartache and lost so much, yet for some reason they're being punished even more. Why?

The next planet they gate to is in the middle of festivities and they are welcomed as friends, but no matter everyone around them being jolly, the friends just can't enjoy it.

Bigsby is killed by some angry natives on yet another planet just as they find a way to deal with the pain of losing Whitehall. They come to the planet searching for a place where they can lay low for a while, out of sight of the snakes, but find tragedy once again. This time they can't even get his body because they are vastly outnumbered and they barely make it off the planet alive themselves.

Depression is thick on the group and they settle into moving from one planet to the next to shake any would-be pursuers off their trail. Nobody laughs anymore, there are no jokes told, everyone is just going through the motions of surviving.

Half a year later they suffer their next loss when they are attacked by wild beasts, looking unlike anything they'd seen before. They're fast, agile and vicious and even though they put up a fight one of them grabs Carter by the middle and runs away with her, followed by it's pack-mates. They can hear her screaming in terror and agony, along with the beasts growling in a feeding frenzy, before the screaming suddenly cuts off. Before they can go after them, they are attacked again, by another group, and have no other choice but to escape through the Gate.

That's the day Jack dies inside.

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	2. Chapter 2

Where is everyone? *looks around*. Only **sh777, meowx2 **and **antra** (thank you, guys) are reading this?

I tried to find a way to keep Carter alive (put off posting this story for over a week because I was trying to come up with something), but couldn't find one that would inflict such a trauma on Jack and this trauma is a vital part of the plot.

I hope you nonetheless enjoy.

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Gone is the man who kept up their morale, he's now replaced by a shell of a person, dead eyes glistening from a haggard face. In one day he ages 5 years.

Jen's worry for him grows exponentially as days pass by and he still walks around like a zombie. She moves her sleeping bag or tent, whatever their night arrangements are, closer to his, just as she sticks close to him during the day. Not only is she letting him know he's not alone, doing for him what he did for her that night in the cave; but she's also keeping an eye on him, ready to catch him if he falls, be it physically or emotionally.

Yet all her efforts don't bear fruit as the light in his eyes is still extinguished. Or, perhaps, they do bare fruits with the simple facts that he's still among them... that he still has the drive to keep on living. The other alternative doesn't let Jen sleep at night.

It's not even half a year later that they lose the last surviving member of SG-18. This time not to death, but to a woman.

They stopped counting how many planets they visited, so they don't know which planet it is anymore. Going to the nearby village to trade for supplies they first stumble on a small dilapidated farm where they find a young woman living by herself.

They make a deal with her, if she gives them a temporary roof above their heads they will pay with food and help around the farm. While they're not really in the need of a shelter as the weather is stable and they have their tents, but Jack has the gut feeling she wouldn't accept charity out of pride. This way they're useful and they get the satisfaction of for once not merely fighting for their own survival, but actually helping someone else in need. It's a powerful morale booster.

The guys get to work to repair all the damage and outstanding maintenance around the place, while Jennifer helps in the small garden and visits the local market with their host to trade various trade items they acquired for food and other supplies.

She finds out the woman, Lyar'na, about the same age as Jennifer, is an orphan and a widow, her last remaining relative - her husband, having died on a hunt when the animal they were hunting turned the tables on it's would-be-killers. Ever since then she's been surviving and existing, steadfastly refusing charity from villagers, believing she didn't need anyone. She's growing her own food, so she's not starving _all _the time, but the house and various other things, things that require a strong person, a man used to working with tools and fixing things, are falling apart and are in a bad need of repair. It's a nice feeling to help someone, one of the SGC's missions, after too long of their own trials and adversity, and Lyar'na can accept their help and keep her face. The men also build a corral and capture a few wild geeps, the name they use for this strange alien mix of a goat and a sheep, so she'll have milk, wool and meat.

Jack builds the tools needed for pottery and teaches Lyar'na how to make pots and pans and then burn them to make ceramic, so she'll have another source of income by selling them to the villagers. There's not a lot of clay around here, but it is enough.

The last day when they're packing up to leave, Alex comes to them, squeezes all of their hands, and tells them goodbye, he won't ever forget them and to drop by anytime.

He's staying because Earth is dead, the SGC is dead, the snakeheads have won, they're constantly on the run and have no real purpose and no permanence, and here he's needed, here he's of use, here he can do good. He'll never forget his wife, but he knows she wouldn't him to give up living, she would want him to mourn and then move on with his life and doing the opposite would be betraying her.

It's not love and yeah, Lyar'na's over 10 years younger than he, but it's nothing sexual to start with so the difference doesn't matter. She needs someone, to help her get more out of her small parcel of land, you can't thrive and achieve your maximum potential when you're fighting just to get by, when all of your resources and strength are aimed at merely surviving; and he needs to be useful and _do_ something real, instead of being always on the run and in hiding. They're not gonna be fighting the Goa'uld anymore anyway...

Jack just looks at him steadily for a minute, then nods and turns around and leaves, Teal'c gives the man a Jaffa goodbye and Jen gives him a quick hug, shedding a few tears, because she's sad to see him leave, but glad they lose him to life and not death. It makes a nice change.

They tell him to look around the Gate for clues of their next destination if he one day changes his mind or something happens. He will know when he sees it and it'll be written in a way that only he will be able to make out the address of the next planet.

When they leave Jen writes down this planet's address so she won't forget it and this is where they leave their first marker, the hint.

The next and last one they lose is Teal'c. Only a week after Fredericks decided to stay back Teal'c declares his own intention to leave, going to join the rebel Jaffa for good. He'd joined the SGC because he believed they were the only ones capable and willing to oppose the false gods, but now they're gone, dead. There's no-one left to continue the fight and the survivors have too many problems with staying alive and keeping out of the awareness of the false gods.

The team of Earth's last survivors has fractures, has fallen apart, split and gone their own ways. Only two remain on their original course, because there's nothing else left for them.

Jack doesn't look like he'll be stopping anytime soon and Jen intends to stay with him. He needs someone there, physically and emotionally, and she knows as long as she's there she's keeping him from having that final breakdown. Besides, where would she go? There's nothing else for her, just as there's nothing else for him. When they stop, they'll stop together.

It was quiet before with two men who never talked a lot, but now that Teal'c's gone she's left with a man she sometimes thinks has forgotten how to use his tongue. Occasionally he goes days without speaking and while Jen was never a very silent person, usually pretty loud and aggressive, she's starting to learn this new Jack-speak. She's learning to read his body and behaviour, she's learning him and then it gets easier to know what he's thinking and the suffocating feeling of abandonment slowly disappears.

After a time it stops making sense to Jen that they should be keeping distance between them. The rules that always prevented anything from happening between them, even if they wanted something, are no longer there because the organization that enforced those rules and who's members they were, no longer exists.

They are the last ones, last members of the SGC, of the United States Air Force, last citizens of the USA and last inhabitants of Earth, everyone else is either dead or has become an alien.

When they make camp on the next planet and go to sleep with barely a word spoken, instead of spreading out her own sleeping bag, Jen, undressed to tanktop and panties, slips into Jack's bag, surprising him immensely. But, either from the brokenness that's been his soul since Carter's death or from having the same thoughts on continuous enforced separation, Jack doesn't react at all, nor does he throw her out. Still, he turns with his back to her, Jen following his example.

Normally they would take shifts of guard duty and sleeping, but they're too tired and instead make full use of the laser perimeter alarm

Caves (empty caves, with no inhabitants) are preferred when looking for places to spend the night, because they're far more discreet, they can light fires at night, something they can't elsewhere because they would be discovered and they can block the entry with the forcefield. The forcefield together with the lasers deeper in the cave for the case the forcefield fails to stop the threat, give them what they'd never get in a forest: a full night's rest for both of them. Guarded this way they don't need to take night watch duties and can sleep through the dark hours of the day. Caves with small entrances are even more preferred because they can also be camouflaged with bushes and vines.

The next night they again sleep in separate bags, but closer than before, both needing the physical confirmation of the other's presence and the reminder when they wake up that they're not alone.

Taking a page out of Jack's book, Jen starts initiating physical contacts in an effort to ground and reassure him and herself, whenever she feels either of them start to sink back into depressions she even takes the risk of being almost affectionate. Those are the rare nights she climbs back into his bag and holds him from behind throughout the night.

There's nothing sexual to it and Jen doesn't delude herself into thinking there is a future for them as more than what they are now, it's simply what she needs to do to make sure they survive emotionally, that they remain human instead of turning into empty husks.

They're more careful now, a LOT more careful than they were. They can't afford another screw up, they can't afford another casualty, not even an injury, so they do what they should've done to start with. It's only the two of them left and if something happens to one of them, the other is sure to follow soon after, because he/she would simply give up with nothing left to fight for.

Jack teaches Jen more about camouflage than she ever imagined there is to know, he teaches her to make a ghilie suit as he makes his own, and as soon as they exit the Gate they start running either for the nearest cover or the safety of the woods where they quickly melt into the background. They recon the area for hostiles first and if they find any natives they first study them from a distance before even thinking of making contact. If they don't find a cave to take shelter in they don't light fires at night, just sleep in thick undergrowth and bushes, employing a mix of perimeter alarm systems and claymore mines for security.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to Fulinn28, jojobevco, Latergatr, antra, ElDani and 78 for their lovely reviews.**

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After another four months of sharing the bed on and off they wake up one morning turned the opposite way they usually wake up. Instead of with their backs to each other, they are in each other's arms. The planet they are on is in the middle of a late Autumn and the night temps are chilly. Yesterday was a bad day for Jack. The memories sometimes come back with a vengeance and he remembers the good times when SG-1 was still in one piece and Earth was alive. Needling Daniel and hiding his rocks, sparring with Teal'c, quietly observing Carter in her lab, the daily business of running the base with Hammond, getting poked with huge needles by the tiny Napoleonic Needle Monger, spending the occasional day in the park with Cassie, visiting Charlie's grave with Sara...

It's times like these the thoughts like 'I can't go on anymore', 'shouldn't it be better if I just ended it all?' and 'I just want to die' clammor at him, sending him back into the pit he's almost crawled out of.

But he's a survivor, he's not a quitter, the last thing he intends is to just throw in the towel and give up, especially not when there's someone depending on him. When it gets as bad as this Jack has tentatively started to turn to his only remaining reason for living.

Hailey keeps him sane, keeps his head above the water with her mere presence and vibrancy of life. He never really thought about it before, but under all that bravado, gung-ho crap and aggression there is actually a strong, giving and loving person underneath, that she's slowly, drop by drop, letting through. It's just too bad it had to come to this for him to finally get to know her.

Whenever it becomes too much he looks at Jen and calls himself a selfish bastard for thinking of ending it. And it _is_ selfish... he would take the easy way out, the coward's way out, and leave Jen completely alone in this hostile universe, with nowhere to go and no-one to lean on, because that person betrayed her. She has no-one but him left, just like he has only her, and if he really would kill himself he would also _murder_ her at the same time.

It's that thought that never fails to sober him up and put him back on the straight and narrow.

They wake up in that position again the next morning and the one after that and when they move onto the next planet, a desert planet with strangely hot nights, they're still waking up in various versions of being in each other's arms and Jack stops making excuses for them both. Jen never fully quits with the blushing though.

They're just two incredibly lonely people, with 7 billion demons haunting them, infinite heartache and enough sadness to last for the rest of their lives, just two people who are finding comfort in the only person they're left.

They continue to move through life and worlds, sometimes encountering planets with only flora and fauna, sometimes not even that, other-times planets full with human life.

They see worlds where people are free and sometimes even genuinely happy and they see worlds where they are slaves, working for their gods, knowing only misery. They quietly retreat from places like that, self-loating in their hearts, but knowing there's nothing they can do, there's only two of them. Once they barely escape in time before one of the system's suns goes supernova, only to land in the middle of a giant orgy during some festivities, out of which they barely talk themselves. At this occasion they feel the loss of Daniel even more, he could've saved them easier than they did themselves. Then again, with Daniel's luck, attention span, occasional failure and occasional desire for a local woman he could've not only make sure they'd be included in the party, but also make them into the main event...

They don't even know why they're constantly moving, why they aren't stopping somewhere, they just know they'll feel it when it's the right time to stop and settle down.

Oh, there are people interested in them on the planets they visit, people who want the either of them to stay with them, the ones who don't just take them for a married couple and treat them that way.

The ones who don't think they're husband and wife usually believe they're father and daughter, which makes Jack and Jen both fair game for them, seeing as Jen's mother isn't with them and she is single.

Men pay attention to her, she's grown up into quite an attractive woman and is no longer as fenced off and angry as she was in high school, just as there are women interested in Jack, even with his age and the things he's seen (particularly ever since they embarked on the last official mission), none of that negates the fact that he's still an attractive man. Some of these people don't even try to be subtle, coming on to each of them strongly, but none of them succeeds in separating them.

Neither Jen nor Jack has a wish or intention to abandon the other, nor is it an option they will ever be willing to entertain. They hadn't made any verbal agreements to stay together, but Jen knows she won't abandon him, she knows she'll stay with him 'till the end, be it bitter or not. They're the last ones on the move and still together, still a team, the others either dead or having melded into some other culture. The bond that began as far back as at the SGC, has now grown impossibly stronger. Even if neither of them acknowledges it aloud and even if Jack more resembles a zombie than a living person.

As a consequence of their principles and the fact they don't have anyone else they are essentially stuck with each other for good, a fate neither of them ever imagined before Earth died, but with the way their world changed they can no longer imagine any other option.

Hailey was never really interested in sex so this arrangement, that excludes the possibility of sex in the future, doesn't bother her. Sex always meant interaction with other people and she was never interested in that, besides there were plenty of other things, more important and exhilirating things out there, especially after she found out about the SGC. After stepping onto another planet and almost being killed by an alien species nothing can compare. That's why, when examining her life and easily extrapolating their future if they continue on like this, she's not really heart-broken over being sentenced to being an eternal maiden. There are things more important to them like staying alive, watching each other's back, staying safe and not dying of starvation.

She obviously doesn't talk about it with Jack, but with the way he turns away one woman after another he just confirms her belief that Carter was _it_ for him. No wonder he took her death so badly, but if he doesn't find something or someone to again live for, instead of merely existing, then the years he has left will be utterly miserable.

When one day he turns to her and asks her if she wants to go take a bath in the nearby hot spring while he makes dinner and his eyes are no longer dead, but life has started to return into them, slowly but surely, relief and joy roll over her in such intensity she can't stop the tears and sobs, before she throws herself deep into his embrace.

When they go to sleep that night, Jack on his back and Jen pressed into his side with her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, Jen suddenly makes a decision. A decision she knows will change her life, change_ their lives_ for good, a decision that terrifies her to the core of her being, but a decision she's now sure of. It's time, they're ready, she's ready and with today's development, _Jack's_ ready for this new life. She climbs up onto him and slants her mouth over his, letting her exhiliration and relief of no longer being alone give her the confidence she needs. What they do afterwards insures she won't be dying an old maid.

Death brought them together and their strong will to live is what will keep them that way.

A few months go by when they finally reach the breaking point, when they get too sick of this kind of life and yearn for something stable, thirst too much to be willing to accept compromises anymore.

It's time to stop running, put the past where it belongs - in the past, and start living, settle down somewhere safe.

The answer to their prayers comes to Jack in a dream and when he wakes up he curses himself for not remembering sooner. There's a place and a way to hide where no-one will find them, but going there also means they won't be coming back, they will never again see the still living people important to them.

They trade their clothes in for non-descript ones on a trade planet in order to blend-in - the BDUs they've been so desperately hanging on to as a memory of their past life make them stand out like a sore thumb. Then they dismantle their weapons and throw the parts into a deep lake, keeping only the Zats.

The action reeks of symbolism and they stand there, gazing into the murky waters of the lagoon for a good half-hour, each coming to terms with saying final goodbyes to their home and the only life they knew.

Then they turn around and walk off without looking back.

10 months after being made the last ones on the team they visit Fredericks to see him for what is perhaps the last time. He's happy to see them and doesn't bother hiding it. His new life as a farmer is hard on this unforgiving land and he's had plenty to adjust to, besides getting to know his new room-mate and learn to live with her on a daily basis, but he's loving it. He's _living_ again and not merely existing. It's obvious to both visitors the two room-mates have only a platonic relationship, but Jen sees the look in Lyar'na's eyes when the other woman is looking at Alex and thinks to herself that this relationship won't stay that way for much longer. Not if Lyar'na has anything to say about it.

Looking at them, Alex senses what is going on, sees the finality and peace on their faces. When he finally speaks he tells them to take care of each other and wishes them to find peace and happiness wherever they're going. Jack nods, shakes his hand, slipping a paper with some coordiantes, and gives him a short, mainly hug. Jen promises they'll visit each year and, if anything happens he should grab Lyar'na and take her to the coordinates Jack gave him. They will look for him there if they don't find him here.

This time when they leave a planet they leave no marker behind.

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	4. Chapter 4

We've come to the end of this little ditty, thank you for joining the ride. While this is the end of this one I'm not saying it's also the only and final apoca-fic I'll write. Who knows where inspiration will take me in the future... See you in the next fic!

**Thanks to g-love78, von, antra, Saissa and Candycane for their words of encouragement.**

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Three successive planets later, jumps that together took only a couple of minutes, they stop only long enough for Hailey to set the final DHD on a timed wiping of memory banks.

Then they jump for the last time, their destination untrackeable and unknown to anyone else in the Galaxy.

Their final destination is a planet so far removed from any other it makes traveling there by ship impractical, as the journey would last 10 years one-way at the maximum speed Goa'uld ships are capable of. That is IF they even KNEW of it's existence. Which they don't. The only mention of it's existence and coordinates was in the first Ancient database Jack downloaded, so Jack and Jen can be sure the snakeheads don't even know of it.

They could ask the Asgard if they'd take them in to help them with war against the Replicators and a possible later war against the the Goa'uld, especially to make the latter pay for what they did, but the truth is they're fed up, they've had enough. They're fed up with it all. With the war, the killing, the dying, the uncertainty, losing friends and losing time when they could be _living_, not merely surviving.

They know it could be seen as dereliction of duty, even though the only ones who could prosecute them for such a charge have been dead for so long it feels like a lifetime ago, it can be claimed they have a duty to the galaxy and that is why they should go on like this, but the questions remain:

Why should THEY be the ones to keep on denying themselves a life for others? Isn't it time for someone else to step in? The ones they swore to protect are dead, so they've released from ANY oath they've ever made, years ago, except for the vows to look after one another.

Neither are they employees of the USAF any longer, so they're not even bound by being paid for their service, which makes it not their duty or obligation anymore.

They know it's a selfish attitude, but surprisingly they don't care. It's time for them to have peace, physical and inner, it's time for them to retire from the fighting.

It's time for them to retire from the war that's been going on in the galaxy before humans had even reached the stage of homo sapiens sapiens, a war that will go on for thousands of years more, even after they're dead.

No matter what they did or how much they sacrificed, the sad truth is **the SGC never changed anything** and never _could _change anything... you kill one Goa'uld, there will be thousands more ready to step up and take his place. You get rid of one bad guy/girl and he/she will be immediately replaced by the next one, just like always new snakeheads kept popping up after they eliminated one of the old guard. And the problem was, the new ones were even more vicious, determined and ruthless than the old ones, who actually had some kind of honor codex and could be negotiated with.

There was no use, it was like fighting against the tide. At best the SGC could achieve only status quo and protect Earth from attack and they even failed at that.

The only way they could've won would be to slaughter every last Goa'uld in the galaxy and every last loyal Jaffa and it's pretty obvious that's impossible. Even if they could've done it, there's no doubt some other race would exploit the sudden power vacuum and do it's best to step in.

And most poignant: what can two people _ever_ even hope to achieve?

What can they achieve with no backup, no resources (they couldn't even be resupplied with ammo for their old weapons or even gun oil to maintain them), against an enemy that's been around for thousands of years, the enemy that has influenced Earth's history from the beginning, took humans to other planets, has armies and fleets bigger than the mind can even imagine, personal powers that are almost magic-like and, the most important one: was powerful and determined enough to destroy Earth and everyone on it and then make it uninhabitable forever...

It's been over two years since they left their home on what they thought was only a short mission, two years spent constantly on the run and in hiding. If anyone, they are entitled to finally living in peace, undisturbed, for the rest of their lives.

The planet they're going to is so far removed from the rest of the universe it won't even matter who wins or loses the war, whatever the result will be it will never reach and influence their haven. Not only because it's so far away, but also because the rest of the universe doesn't know about it.

Haven, as they now call it (lingering superstition stops them from naming it after Earth, not wanting to jinx the planet to the same fate), was one of many planets who's existence Jack never revealed to anyone, even Hammond, he held them as his own personal secret in case things with the NID or any other agency ever got so bad he would've had to disappear. There are other planets who's locations Jack kept a carefully guarded secret, but this one has the best weather, no big predators, best living conditions...

Moving further inland they discover a small village and build a small home a day's walk away in a protected spot.

After they welcome their firstborn into the world, the first of the three they eventually end up having, they stop talking and thinking of Earth.

**This**is their home now.

THE BEGINNING

**Reviews are love.**


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